Haunted St. Joseph College

Daughters of Charity
at St. Joseph.

Elizabeth Ann Seton--better known as Mother Seton-- established the American Sisters of Charity. She founded what was to become St. Joseph College in Emmitsburg, Maryland in 1809. Initially, it was a charitable Catholic women’s academy. Mother Seton was later made a saint.

This Catholic academy evolved into a liberal arts college for women. St. Joseph’s College was closed down in 1973. The U.S. Government then bought the property to house the National Emergency Training Center.

This old campus is haunted, most believe because it was used as a Civil War field hospital. Field hospitals during this war were crude at best. Most severe wounds to the limbs became infected with gangrene, and the only treatment was to amputate.

St. Joseph's College, 1923.

The one shining light of hope at St. Joseph during this war were Mother Seton’s Daughters of Charity who earned the nickname, “angels of the battlefield” for nursing both wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.

During the years the campus was still St. Joseph’s College numerous strange encounters were reported by the students--including both sights and sounds.

Numerous students state they heard the screams and moans of the wounded Civil War soldiers as they crossed campus. Some accounts even mention witnesses who saw the old field hospital with its open-air surgeries--while walking across the school at night.

Another account mentions several female witnesses who saw a nurse carry out a bucket of amputated legs and arms. Students also reported the putrid smell of blood throughout the area.

One apparition observed at night was a friendly Civil War soldier that stayed close by, as female students walked across the campus.

Another ghost seen was Mother Seton. Reports state students spotted her on campus, she would smile at them and then rush off. It is believed she was in a hurry because she needed to tend to injured Civil War soldiers.